subject lines are for people who aren't WORKING, PEPPER [open]

[needsmoreiron]

Early this morning Tony Stark was rudely awakened by an explosion. This explosion was small, red-haired, and composed of "Tony, you have nothing in your fridge, you haven't unpacked anything, and you haven't been outside since you got here

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[five_point_no]

There is yet another inquisitive blond in the coffee shop, who could iBrian.

In actuality, he isn't that inquisitive to start with - he doesn't even want to be on campus at the weekend but he forgot to buy coffee... and food, but right now what he needs after staying up all night programming Computo (who is now capable of completing the first five levels of Lemmings with only a 68.7% chance of initiating the self-destruct and watching them all explode) is caffeine, as fast as possible. Logically, it is most efficient to do this by obtaining coffee at the nearby coffee shop and then go grocery shopping, possibly online, once his needs have been quenched and he will thus be less open to the temptations of gourmet coffee blends that he should not be making room in his budget for.

The thought processes involved in this could well be portrayed on a chart of some kind, but the end result is the only interesting part, as it leads to one (1) Brian Acker wandering past Tony's booth, coffee in hand, and eyes kept downward and away from people's faces to avoid any appearance of social approachability. And thus, on exactly the right level to spot Tony's notes, which obviously become Brian's business the moment he recognises some of the equations visible. Very obviously, in fact, as he not only stops right in front of Tony's table and starts very focusedly reading said notes, going so far as to leaf through them if not prevented, but also begins mumbling complicated mathematics at some point.

Because randomly double-checking other people's complex equations is totally socially acceptaBrian.

[needsmoreiron]

It appears to be in this coffee shop, what with the volume of people doing it! The feeling of eyes in his general vicinity is something Tony is perhaps a little too practiced dealing with, and thus he is preparing himself to look up slowly (in case of hot girls) when there are UNEXPECTED HANDS, wtf why is all of Minnesota interested in submarine repair.

"Careful, I'm going to start thinking I need to call for an adult here." Or Pepper! He scoops the papers into a pile where they are uh, less easily groped and looks up. YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeBrian?

[five_point_no]

Brian is not a hot girl, which will perhaps spare him the brunt of Tony's flirtatious wiles but also makes his paper-groping much less forgiveable. He is approximately halfway through making a disgruntled noise at having the notes snatched away when the fact that they are not his notes and belong to the person speaking filters properly into his brain - wait there's a PERSON ATTACHED TO THESE PAPERS. This results in entirely comical surprised blinking and goldfish-mouthing in Tony's direction for the five or so seconds (oh did you see that) it takes Brian to regain his cool. Thankfully, he does not spill any beverages during this time.

"Most adults in the area wouldn't understand the difference between a Shadow Hand and a standard end effector unless you gave them a slide show." He says, sipping his coffee and completely missing the point.

[needsmoreiron]

"Probably not even then." Although FOR SOME REASON most of the students seem to. Oh St. Jude's, with your freaktastic academic standards and your hordes of science oriented people who are willing to descend on the innocent and also Tony like vultures. "I think they might understand the concept of invasion of personal space, though."

It's true, tragically, he would totally be making allowances if Brian was a hot girl and not just a boy his own age with suspiciously pink lips. Dammit, why can't the world be entirely full of hot girls for Tony to ........what would you do, Tony, sell weapons to them? Yes. Anyway. He pokes at one of the half-finished strings of numbers, maybe this encounter can be useful for everyone! "That one's giving me some trouble."

[five_point_no]

"..." Wait for it. Any moment now, he'll get what Tony is saying here.

... Aaaany moment now.

... Really, he will. About... NOW. "... Oh. I apologise for the intrusion, I didn't actually see you, just the notes." This is about the absolute antithesis of charm standing before you, Tony. Also he has very little idea about personal space boundaries, but there's no way he's bringing that up in polite conversation. Even he knows better than that.

He is now, however, completely confused, because there are mixed signals of 'get out of my personal space and stop touching my stuff' and 'help me solve this :3?' and, just in case it wasn't clear before now, he kind of has trouble navigating such social minefields (and as for his lips, if you think he spends valuable programming time on making his face look pretty, you are mistaken, sir. Feel lucky he recognises the use of a brush). His mathematical curiousity wins out in the end, though! "Well, perhaps a fresh pair of eyes would help?" ... What, he's heard that said before in similar situations on television, surely it's an acceptable phrase here. Even if it's not, he leans in and searches his pockets for a pencil, and... a separate piece of paper, just in case Tony is still uncomfortable with him actually touching his notes. Is it time to finish someone else's equation? Of course iBrian.

[needsmoreiron]

Well, the last thing Tony wants to be giving is mixed signals! It's more ...relenting than anything else. Give him a little time to get used to the sudden appearance of people rifling through his stuff, Brian! All like, eight of them. "Next time you may want to check for owners first. Just a piece of advice, if you're in the market for that. If not please forget I said anything and try that with other people, it's bound to work out at some point."

Beat. "I don't actually recommend that as a course of action. Really, do check first, otherwise people freak out and yell and it's just a big mess."

How is this the second person Tony has advised on 'how not to make your conversant freak out' today. Seriously.

Meanwhile, he observes Brian's equatery with a little headtilt, expression pleased about something he is apparently choosing not to voice. Tony, your chosen methods of generosity are ....weird.

[five_point_no]

Perhaps it will help Tony to see what he's writing if Brian just sits down across the table from him, not to mention that this will make it easier for him to actually write than awkwardly attempting to lean on his own forearms. Which was what he was valiantly trying to do, there, in an attempt to respect personal space boundaries and no, he's never getting the hang of those.

He is also never getting the hang of conversations, given that he glances up, notices the pleased expression, miraculously manages not to flush and just goes straight back to frowning at the equations as he works. "I don't normally come across people with such interesting notes, but the advice is appreciated for future dealings with other people of your intelligence, however rare they may be." ... That... may have been a compliment in there, stop the presses :O

At least he's doing really well with the mathematical part of this interaction.

[needsmoreiron]

"Ohh, you'd be surprised," murmurs Tony under his breath before it occurs to him that this sort of witticism will do him absolutely no favors whatsoever with his current company. ABORT RETRY FAIL right, starting over. He raises his voice enough that it's audible, although he can't quuuite keep it from sounding vaguely amused. "Not if you're a St. Jude's student they're not. You'd think from all the people who've come by today they have some kind of advanced robotics elective there. If it were me I'd put that kind of thing in the introductory brochure, you know?"

Not that Tony has looked at the introductory brochure at all. But Pepper has! AMUSEMENT PARKS, eh? It is entirely possible Tony would prefer the robots. Although amusement parks do sometimes have waterslides, and that, my friends, means bikinis. Oh hell yes.

Uh. EARTH TO TONY. He returns from the magical land of bikini-clad denizens of Minnesota to flash the customary broad, lazy smile. "Thanks, it's just kind of a hobby, though."

[five_point_no]

Brian is a bit surprised, given that he doesn't exactly talk to people and that is a helpful habit in determining intelligence sometimes! But he did choose St. Jude's for a reason, so presumably he was aware of the reasonable academic record (despite the lack of advanced robotics elective). He hides this surprise by, predictably, staring at the notes some more. It's a national sport. "Then those individuals simply haven't availed me of the chance to observe their notes so readily." Because heaven forfend he be mistaken in any way or not know something. "Perhaps there is enough interest to suggest it as an elective."

Brian completely misses the mental tangent about bikinis, which he probably would have even if Tony had gone 'BIKINIS ARE AN AWESOME PERK OF AMUSEMENT PARKS BY THE WAY' in... some less subtle fashion. He also has no idea how Tony manages that smiling thing so easily :/ "Hobby... well, it is a productive use of free time." He approves, in other words. There is a tiny awkward pause as he realises that this is one of those moments when sharing information is the done thing. "I suppose my hobby is programming."

... Yes. Very informaBrian.

[needsmoreiron]

Tony is of the mind that his ~*brilliant teeth-flashery*~ (teeth flashery which is TOTALLY PLEASANT and not like RAR TEEFS, swear) is someday going to be just as relevant to Stark Industries as his ability to develop various bits of technological wunderkraft, and he is probably only slightly off-base there. It's also probably good he and Brian don't know each other, uh, at all, because if Brian were to ever voice that he is not sure about this whole smiling thing, Tony might actually try to make Brian smile. Physically. Possibly with his fingers. And he needs those, so it's just as well he ....won't be doing that.

A...ny...way. Uh. He is not, let's be blunt, quite sure why Brian is being so informative, but he does like to have his little projects, and it is possible Brian is becoming just that in Tony's mind right now, which is sort of insulting actually, although he does not per se intend it that way. He's just not terribly good at uh, viewing other people as ...people. Sometimes. "Well, that must be very interesting for you, how's it working out?"

Liiiiitle trace of laughter in there, he can't quite help it. "Don't you ever do anything just for fun?" (....are you serious.)

[five_point_no]

Brian is capable of smiling, it just... doesn't come very easily, which Tony may notice if they do start hanging out in more than just coffee shop invasion situations. Not that that would necessarily prevent any attempts at physically making Brian smile (nor should it, possibly), but it does mean he would just get all ruffled and grumpy. In the meantime, he will just note Tony's particular teef-flashy skills as being particularly... skillful, compared to everyone else he knows, and... probably just store that data away for later reference.

It's not as if Tony is the first person not to see Brian entirely as a person, really ._. He actually looks up, blinking in puzzlement. "Programming is fun, it just happens to be productive too. Likewise mathematics and so forth." ... No, he's not even kidding. He pauses to reach into his jacket, though! WHAT COULD IT - a PDA, huh. Brian presses a few buttons and then holds it so Tony can see the screen, which is currently displaying a nice pattern of greenish-blue cocentric circles and lines. "Meet Computo. I think he is a fair representation of how it's 'working out' for me." Oh hello, tiny amount of snark in Brian's voice, there.

Meanwhile, the PDA screen cheerily displays some text! Hello, sir. How polite.